The Given Takers/Tropes
Affectionate Nickname: Marshall Fernandez is sometimes called "Marshie" This carried over into the TV series. * Animated Adaptation: They had one from 1981 to 1988. * Anti-Love Song: "Let's Not Go There" from ''Number 3'' is this, according to Frank Robinson. * As Long As It Sounds Foreign: "Sakura" from Number 3. * Bookends: "Lights, Please" and "Lights, Please (Reprise)" from Soaring Sky-High. * [[El Kadsreians Love Dunkin' Donuts|'El Kadsreians Love Dunkin' Donuts']]: The band is strangely popular in Central Europe, and there seems to be no reason why. ** In fact, in 2018 they sold out in Prague as part of a concert co-headlined with Rinava and Razor, two other bands from the Vlokozu Union's 80s music scene that are guilty of this, within just 3 hours. * Hidden Track: UK cassette copies of Number 3 include a burst of code followed by 5 seconds of slience. The exact purpose of this code went unknown for 27 years until 2009, when a user on Reddit revealed it to be a string of ZX Spectrum code for of all things. Allegedly, Warner Bros. Records UK and Sinclair used the same cassette duplication factory and code for Horace Goes Skiing wound up on nearly all UK cassette copies of Number 3 due to the person who manned the master copies starting up the Horace code way too shortly after running the Number 3 master tape. So basically, anybody who was stupid enough to put their copy of Number 3 into their ZX Spectrum's cassette deck essentially had a full-price game for free as well as screwing up their computer a bit. * In The Style Of...: "Super Tsundere" is, according to Theo Ortega, in the style of late-70's new wave bands such as Devo and the Cars. And boy, does it show! * Lead Bassist: Frank Robinson. Ironically enough, he's the lead singer. * Narm Charm: The "Rock Your Pain Away" video, which reeks of late-70's SFX. * Nightmare Fuel: "Crying In My Sleep" from Tell Me is extremely ''dark compared to their other work. ** The rather haunting violin solo at the end of "Atlanta". ** Jaylin Rounds of Rinava performs a haunting keyboard solo on the Club Mix of "You, The Questionnaire". ** "Unknown Is The Scariest Word" from ''Sooner Or Later, which fans often agree is the darkest song they've ever done.'' The song is about a man who (allegedly) kidnaps people, and as the title suggests, ''his intentions are unknown. It later reveals in the song that the man has disappeared, and once again, the reason is unknown. *** The music video arguably makes this worse - as it shows the band members seemingly held hostage. *** Marshall Fernandez said in an interview that the reason behind the man's disappearance is that "he escaped past the Mexican-American border and never returned. As for his victims, we shall never know..." Frank Robinson hinted in a 2011 interview that the man kidnapped people because he got bored. Chelsea stated in a 2015 interview that "one of his victims was the narrator of the song, and as for the man, he's sipping cocktails in a undisclosed area of Guadalajara." *** It also doubles as a case of some serious Lyrical Dissonance, as it's really a guitar and synth-heavy punk anthem. And those laughs you hear in the background? Yeah. That's actually Chelsea's laugh just ran through a distortion box. Sweet dreams. * Power Ballad: The vast majority of Soaring Sky-High. * Punny Name: Given Takers. Give and take. Get it? * Record Producer: Lead guitar Chelsea McNeese produced all of their albums. ** English musician Trevor Horn, a well-known name in the synth-pop industry, co-produced Soaring Sky-High with McNeese. * Ship Tease: Chelsea McNeese with just about anybody. Dear lord. Notable pairings include Chelsea X Ryu Judoku from Rinava, Chelsea X Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo, Chelsea X Nancy Wilson from Heart, and (perhaps the strangest) Chelsea X Brian May from Queen. This has even crossed over into non-music fandoms, with Chelsea X Yakko (no, not the one from Animaniacs) from Akazukin Chacha and Chelsea X Andy from What's With Andy? ** Ship Sinking: Almost. After McNeese married infamous EDM aritst Akihiro McNeese in 1994, the fans were in an absolute outrage! However, this still doesn't stop them. In fact, it likely made it even worse due to the fans desperately scrambling for a "better match" for Chelsea. Frank Robinson himself went as far as to post on his Twitter: "Chelsea does not love you." * Signature Song: "Rock Your Pain Away", with "We Have Arrived..." and "Tell Me" close behind. * Sweet Dreams Fuel: "Sunset on Abeta" from All Systems Are Go. * Take That: The villain of "You, The Questionnaire" is named Azzerrad, after , a Rolling Stone reviewer of whom had given Tell Me an incredibly negative review (compared to the El Kadsreian branch of the magazine, who's reviewer gave it a good review). * Tear Jerker: The aforementioned "Lights, Please". ** Robinson started The Given Takers to cope with a bad case of homesickness, moving from Vermont to Abeta. ** The song "Songbird In A Cage" is about Frank being put under pressure by the struggles of maintaining the band, to the point of feeling trapped. He's basically singing that he's had his run with the Given Takers, and that he just couldn't take it anymore. The fact that it closes off Sooner or Later doesn't help one bit. *** Robinson originally wrote the song during the Just The Beginning sessions, but did not come around to recording it until the aforementioned album began development. * Tsundere: "Super Tsundere" from Sooner Or Later. Duh. * The 80's: The band's most successful decade. * The Movie: The Given Takers: Live at the Venza * What Could Have Been: ** Oddly enough, Frank Robinson came close to becoming the new bassist for The Cars, after the death of Benjamin Orr. Needless to say, due to extreme fan backlash, this never happened. ** Chelsea was originally asked to co-produce 's album Primitive Love with , but due to scheduling conflicts backed out. Doesn't help that Chelsea later attacked 's birther stance with a Tweet that went "We should impeach a U.S. president who isn't American - says the Venezuelan immigrant saxophonist for Miami Sound Machine. Also, "at least two independent experts" are likely the same quack "experts" who'd declare soda evil just because sugar gives you diabetes or something." Category:Tropes Category:The Given Takers